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RAIN AND ROSES 



























































































































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Copyright, 3923 

The STRATFORD CO., Publishers 
Boston, Mass. 



• « 


The Alpine Press, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 


©C1A69C020 


Contents 


Page 

Inadequate.1 

Old Masonry.2 

Hymn of Adoration.4 

Sweet Distress.5 

The Chastening.6 

The Four Winds of Heaven . ... 8 

Friend.9 

Humility.10 

Shadows.11 

Two Roads.12 

The Reason , .14 

When June Comes.15 

Through Loving Eyes.17 

Worship.18 

Evermore.20 

A City Guest.22 

Reminders.24 

Soul.25 

Farewell.26 

Rainbow Ribbons.28 

My Neighbor’s Roses.30 









CONTENTS 


Page 

The Long Twilight.31 

A Lone Walk.33 

A Death Blow.35 

The Breath of Life.36 

A Day in Spring.38 

Autumn.39 

Little Girl.40 

My Old House and The Weather . . .42 

Blue Stone Biver, W. Va.44 

Sea Hunger.46 

Tree Sounds.47 

A Wish.48 

Middle Creek, W. Va.49 

Endie.50 

In Our Old Street.52 

Honey.54 

Moon Dazzle.55 

To Friends.56 

To a Medow Lark.57 

Broken Numbers.58 

I’m Going Out.60 

Ingleside.62 

Friendship.63 

This Year.65 

Spring Walkers.66 








CONTENTS 


Winter Woods 



Page 

. 68 

Brother O’ Mine . 



. 71 

Dream .... 



. 73 

Shine and Shower 



. 75 

Lines to Death 



. 76 

To the New Year . 



. 78 

Homesickness 



. 80 

To Love .... 



. 81 

Your Friend . 



. 82 

Draw Close to the Fire . 



. 83 

What Love Is 

# 


. 84 























\ 










RAIN AND ROSES 


Inadequate 

F RIEND of my heart when you’re away 
I fashion for my tongue, 

A thousand things to say to you 
But dear heart when you come, 

How needless is my well formed phrase, 
And my care chosen words, 

Take swift and sudden flight away, 

Like small wind-riven birds. 

And with you here, my full glad heart 
Can only say, you’ve come. 

For all your touching, pleading ways 
But serve to make me dumb. 


M 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Old Masonry 

L ONG, long ago in our old street 
Back from the busy road, 

An old deserted stone house stood 
Breaking beneath its load. 

Such ruin that remained of peaks 
Stood out against the skies. 

And the memory of old things 
Looked from behind its eyes. 

In summer time this dead old house 
Set in its flowery space. 

One likened to a stranger 
In a much too friendly place. 

In winter time its creaking frame 
With all its falling beams, 

Was like a sea rocked sailor 
Grown weary of his dreams. 

It leaned a little westward. 

And now I think it knew, 

And was waiting other voices 
It long had listened to. 

[2] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Once I was part of this old ruin 
When I myself were young. 

Out of pity I must leave you 
And half the song unsung. 


[3] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Hymn of Adoration 

I AM grown weary for new scenes 
But not of human make. 

But 0! for hills and long green fields, 

A splintered, glittering lake. 

This day I am an intimate 
With sky and bird and tree. 

With budding boughs and turbulent streams 
And God’s immensity. 

I am enamored with fresh days 
Drenched with rain and sun. 

The tho’t of thine omnipotence 
0! God has made me dumb. 

Thy goodness is so wide, a thing 
Beat, for me slower time. 

I cannot sing so great a song 
In one short life like mine. 


[4] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Sweet Distress 

I have known the beauty 
Of a firegold west. 

And from the hurt in rainsong 
I shall never rest. 

I heard the water running 
From a green hill’s crest, 

But what is sweet in sorrow 
Hearts remember best. 


[5] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


The Chastening 

I SEE thee now thine innocence 
Writ on thy soul’s clear skies. 
Thy laughter loving mouth 
Thy love provoking eyes. 

I mark thy soft girl fairness 
Thy strong young body’s grace, 

The woman soul that I have nursed 
Dawning behind thy face. 

I note with fear thy heedless 
And unchided turbulence. 
Unfaltering faith in life and love 
Thine air of confidence. 

And then I see as seers might see 
Even as one’s own God. 

Thy straight, slim youthfulness 
Bend to the chastening rod. 

I writhe to think I may not bear 
The blows, for thine own sake 
I can not, tho’ ’tis mine to know 
How one small heart can ache. 


[6] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


In the winds of thy fierce breaking 
God grant I never see 
Thy flashing spirit sullen, 

Or thy lips in mutiny. 

But rather child, I’d have thee know 
Even as I the rod, 

As a tuning fork to bring thy song 
Back to the harp of God. 


[7] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


The Four Winds of Heaven 

W HEN I hear the north wind 
It never fails to bring, 
Reminders of for-get-me-nots 
And sunny days in spring. 

And 0! the east wind carries 
Upon its scented sail, 

The tho’t of pink arbutus 
In some secluded vale. 

And how I'd like to gather 
When winds are in the west, 

A brace of orange blossoms 
To hold against my breast. 

But 0! I love the south wind 
That breathes across the loam, 
For 0! the tender south wind 

Just whispers dear “come home!” 


[8] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Friend 



AST night when I was watching shadows 


I J lengthen 

Prom twilight into deeper, darker lines, 

The lazy river caught my little boat dear, 

And swept it in among the clinging vines. 

And somehow in the mirror of the current 
I saw your kindly face look back at me. 

Then I reached my eager hands toward you 
As one would do to friends across the sea. 

Friend 0! mine, don’t think that I’ve forgotten, 
Tho ’ parted now by many a weary mile. 

In every little pool I see reflected, 

Your eyes forever tender with a smile 

And someday when GOD calls me from my 
dreaming 

And draws me from life’s loneliness apart, 

I ’ll carry all these things that I remember — 
About you, up to heaven in my heart. 


[9] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Humility 

I HA YE come a long way 
Over sea and sod. 

I found nothing small as me, 
Nothing great as GOD. 

God has in his keeping 
Eternities of time. 

He hears worlds of trouble 
But, gives ear to mine. 

He sways stars and planets, 
“Keeps the keys of death.” 
But in his loving kindness 
Paused to give me breath. 

I have seen a mountain 
Sweet flowers, a bird, a tree. 
God has lovely children 
Dare he look on me ? 


[IO] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Shadows 

I SAT with dreams and mated them with 
shadows 

Where sunlight flecked the grass and trickled 
thru 

Each swaying twig and branch of spruce and 
elder 

Adoringly, they somehow spoke of you. 

I sat tense-eyed, my longing vision sensing, 

An unseen, art-wise hand begin to trace. 

With all love’s magic trickery displaying 
To me; your hair, your pallid waiting face. 

In all these voiceless years of night and grieving 
Above thy grave I grasp this gleam of grace. 
Perhaps sometime, where is no pain or parting 
I ’ll smile again into your waiting face. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Two Roads 

T HERE are two roads near Joppa town 
And here I doubting stood, 

For one went winding round the hill 
The other thru the wood. 

And if I took the winding road 
’Twould lead me thru the mall, 

Of noise and gossipers for which 
I have no heart at all. 

Sweet briar nodded from the hill, 

The blue bells from the shade. 

A purple finch decided me, 

So in the wood I stayed. 

A brooding bird and restless young, 

Began to chide and fret. 

And wonder in bird fashion what 
I ever came to get. 

A green snake ran across my path 
Its eyes were jewel small. 

A flying squirrel left a tree, 

That seemed ten paces tall. 

[ 12 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


I picked a fern that had uncurled 
Itself from out the ground. 

And 0! the wood delighted me, 

The way it stood around. 

And there were holy moments when 
My very soul went still. 

And sad I was for folks who took 
The road around the hill. 

And when I left the sancted place, 
My arms were loaded down. 

It cost me not one pang to shun, 

The road to Joppa town. 


[ 13 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


The Reason 

W HEN I was but a little girl 
Mere flotsam on life’s sea, 
Because of youth a lovely rose 
Meant, just a rose to me. 

Before I knew that love was life, 
And life were all of love. 

The sky was only atmosphere 
And God frowned up above. 

But now I am a woman grown 
And know love tenderly, 

I can not tell you dear how much 
God’s roses mean to me. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


When June Comes 

HEN June comes back again I’ll sit 



V V Away back from the road and dip 
My face and arms in clover blooms, 

And drink my fill of their prefumes, 

And steep myself in one great gleam 
Of sunlight, and I’ll dream, 


And dream. 


And dream. 


I’ll lean back in the grass and sigh 
And look love at the blue, blue sky. 
Until my senses reel and reel, 

Like elm tree branches and a feel— 
Of drowsiness oozes between, 

My eyelids, while I dream, 


And dream, 


And dream. 


A lethargy binds tongue and lips, 
And creeps down to my fingertips. 
Troubles, cares and everything, 
Float out past my remembering. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


And all the world is one great beam 
Of gladness, while I dream, 

And dream, 

And dream. 


[16] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Through Loving Eyes 

L IKE a careless child in the drifts it stood 
Against the darkness *of the wood, 

Even the path was not cut through 
Up to the door it led you to. 

Beauty untarnished, but never a sound 
Save for the whispering trees around. 

Its shining eyes on the cold world shone 
Warm and bright from its snowy comb. 

Cheer was the word the blue fume wrote 
As it cleared itself from the chimney’s throat. 
The drifts that lay on the tent like sheds 
W T ere like the covers of untouched beds. 

A great white garment of snow and frost 
Was laid on the fence, but the hedge was lost. 
A-while away the home garden park 
Divides itself from the woods soft dark. 

Dear God I said, you had meant to please 
When giving man such gifts as these. 


[!7] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Worship 

I DID not always know ’twas kind 
Of thee to let me pass, 

And with my sacrilegious feet 
Walk lightly thru thy grass. 

How could I know, when I was young 
’Twas one of thine own dreams, 

To tender me the license of 
Thy hills and singing streams. 

How could’st thou take even a part 
Of thy remotest time, 

And weld me, poor unworthly link, 
Into this chain of thine. 

One day I learned at cost of pain 
Among the shadows dim, 

Thy gift of violets, Oh! God 
Their fragrance cutting in. 

I set apart one hallowed day 
Forever dear to me. 

Because thou taughtest me to love 
A flowering apple tree. 

[18] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


And since I’ve older grown and drawn 
To solitudes apart, 

I find I cannot tell the Lord 
All that is in my heart. 


[i9] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Evermore 

T HEN I go on from here I ’ll take 

The ever pleasant memory of a lake. 
I’ll tightly lock within my spirit breast 
The picture of a grim old mountain’s crest. 

A little stream’s song running ever clear 
And all the lonely places I hold dear. 

A mocking bird, a drenched and dripping tree. 
0! I shall keep my hunger for the sea. 

I shall keep my knowledge of the paths I know 
The gates of many mornings and the glow, 

Of sunset, on a firegold window pane, 

The mist on young nasturtiums after rain. 

Virginia creeper on some quaint old garden wall 
The sound of dropping nuts, I’ll take them all. 
The falling leaves, the closing of the year, 

I’ll not forget, tho’ I go on from here. 

These tho’ts I shall retain (e’en past the gates 
of death), 

Of burnished autumn leaves, a tiny baby’s 
breath. 


[20] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


In my heart I’ll take the Heaven’s most untried 
height 

A moon drowned flower, from some star riven 
night. 

I shall remember thru great ages of GOD’S 
time 

The wind in clover, rain in summer time. 

Think you I could forget, thru death’s wild 
fret and pain 

The look of slim young birches in the rain? 


[21] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A City Guest 

T HE WONDER never went out of her eyes 
When she saw the sweep of our wide 
blue skies, 

The things we farmers forget in the pain 
Of sowing and planting and reaping again. 

Things taken for granted loose the touch 
Of newness and dazzle we love so much. 

While she, soft-eyed and with shining face, 
Found pleasure in all things about the place. 

She gathered the flowers in wind and rain 
That we called common and tho’t real plain. 
From the sweep of our lawn to the poppy bed 
Flaunting their colors about her head. 

Till we ourselves looked with glad new eyes 
On an old, old setting, hut a new sunrise. 

Cold grey days she would rise and sing 
For she found beauty in everything. 

Will she ever know in the city street 

How we think of her when the snow and sleet, 

Make houses enjoyable things to own, 

How often we mention her name at home? 


[22] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Can she ever know with her warm flower heart, 
How she gave ns back what we lost in part. 
How the thought of her when it’s cold with rain, 
Fills the house and the halls, with herself 
again. 


[23] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Reminders 

T HE SUN, the wind, and rain 

The trees, the flowers and skies, 
A grosbeak’s note 
From its flaming throat 
And my bosom is tossed with sighs. 

Eyebeams and locks of hair 
The curve of a white cheek near, 

Each day of the week 
Filled full of the sweet 
Reminders of you, my dear. 

The crowd and the city street, 

A hill that is bleak and bare. 

A fleecy cloud 

Floating high and proud 

And I think of my darling’s hair. 

A voice that is strangely like 
Your own that I turn to see; 

A silvery laugh, 

Convincing me half 

My dreams have been fooling me. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Soul 


B ecause, 

There never was a voice on earth 
Could soothe its harrowings, 

That’s why these souls God gave to us 
Are always lonely things. 

Because, 

Life is so short, and death so sure, 

And worlds uncertain things, 

And time so fleet and heaven so high 
Souls have such restless wings. 

Because, 

’Twas fashioned in the heavenly realm 
Of God’s creative schemes, 

That’s why a soul goes hungrily 
From dream to shining dream. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Farewell 

W HEN yon are twining wreaths of rose 
and columbine 

To soften outlines of a tomb too new, 
Remember, spring makes little tents all green 
and cool 

For soldier boys this old world never knew. 

When spring comes tripping down the lane once 
more 

And children bring you violets of blue, 
When your tender heart is strained, beyond the 
breaking 

Let this be my farewell, dear heart, to you. 

When spring comes romping, singing, back 
again, 

Dressed in her garments fragrant, fresh and 
new; 

When once more robins sing among the budding 
trees 

All honey sweet, with apple blooms and dew. 
[26] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


When yon have searched the woods as once yon 
did 

For specimens of moss and long, dank fern, 
Remember, that I too have loved the flowers 
But, look no more, no more for my return. 


m 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Rainbow Ribbons 

B RING me rainbow ribbons 
And a band of bine, 

Bring me threads of silver 
From the moonbeams’ hue. 

Bring a pure cloud fleecy, 

Snatch a sunbeam bright, 

Tints from twilght evenings, 
Matchless and just right, 

To mate with all her beauty. 

These amassed will make the dreams 

Tender, pure and holy 

Of a girl just turned thirteen. 


Bring me rainbow ribbons 
From the sunset too 
Then a white tho’t from the angels 
Who are holding hands with you. 
Bring the rosebud’s fragrance 
And the apple blossom’s bloom 
The hushed voice from the morning 
Then leave a little room, 


[28] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


For a thousand transient colors 
From a God’s infinite dream 
And you’ll have the soul and fancies 
Of a girl just turned thirteen. 


[29] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


My Neighbor’s Roses 


M Y NEIGHBOR’S roses always grow 
In such a tantalizing row, 

Of fragrance and perfume, 

A riotous mass of twilight bloom. 

And I am tempted oftentimes 
When walking where the stray ones climb, 
To reach my willing hands out so 
And clasp each crimson, flaming glow. 

A breeze steals softly thru the day 
And brushes them too far away. 


Christ! make me kind enough to give 
Of roses while my friends yet live. 

And if they reach their eager hands, 

To where my flowers with clinging bands, 
Are nodding, tempting, from the row. 

Oh! Christ I pray let breezes blow 
A thousand fragrant, tender charms 
Into my neghobor’s outstretched arms. 
Then keep my burning heart and tho’t, 
Tender enough to stay them not. 


[30] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


The Long Twilight 


W HEN “Pop” is bald, and my hair is 
white, 

And the stage is set, for a long twilight; 
When we are alone in onr little den 
He with his pipe and I with my pen, 

’Twill not be regrets that make us sigh 
For we will have things that the world can’t 
buy. 

For we have snatched from the mirth mad 
throng 

A little of love and a deathless song. 

A few glad dreams and onr tho’ts all white, 
The silence of God, in the long twilight. 


When “Pop” is bald and my hair is white, 
And we ’re nearing the end of the long twilight, 
’Twill not seem cold in the darksome wood 
For we have been friends with solitude. 

And often yearned in the shadows cold 
For the friendly smiles the gods withold. 
Hearts all the braver for the feel of pain, 

For a rose grows sweeter every time it rains. 

[3i] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A few glad notes from a comrade’s song 
We’ll sing in the night as we go along. 

For we carry the blossoms a frost ne’er blights 
And we ’ll have no morning till we ’ye said good¬ 
night. 


[32] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A Lone Walk 


W HEN I had left the city street 
And lost the open road, 

I breathed contentedly and deep 
As one who shifts a load. 

I wasn’t caring where I went 
Or where I meant to go. 

Bnt I was tossing from my path 
The brown leaves drifted so. 


When I was wondering aimlessly 
Jnst what my quest would bring. 

I saw a pink arbutus bloom 
And heard a warbler sing. 

The sky seemed blue and higher here 
Than it was back in town. 

And Oh! the wind delighted me, 

The way it blew around. 

And then I sought the grey glen road. 
Went with it thru the wood. 

And in its long green isles I walked 
And worshipfully stood. 

[33] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Mj neighbor questioned from the fence 
What I had seen out there ? 

I said I sought adventure 
And I found it everywhere. 


[34] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A Death Blow 

H E SAID goodbye, yon hobbled out, 
The Doctor shut the door. 

From your face I knew he’d told you 
Things we had guessed before. 

I saw you slightly tremble 
But I reached you ere you fell. 

Your fixed face said many things 
More than you cared to tell. 

One does not receive death warrants 
As one would a courtesy. 

After awhile your head went up 
And you talked it all out with me. 

Brave little woman I knew you 
Knew you were never afraid. 

Not for yourself, You forbid me — 

To speak and my questions you staid. 

All I could give was silence. 

Your pride forbade me much. 

Tho ’ I longed to bear your burden 
Even to be your crutch. 

[35] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


The Breath of Life 

I *D Like to lift the threads of life 
And weave them on a loom 
And make a pattern beautiful, 

As any day in June. 

I’d put ten thousand violets 

And shimmering leaves of green, 

Around the edge and over it, 

To hide each vulgar seam. 

Because, death brushed me with dark wings, 
Reluctant passed me by, 

I take the threads of life again 
And weave and smile and sigh. 

But if I had a God-like power 
Omnipotence of mind, 

To put the tho’t of suffering 
And death a league behind. 

Life would be violets to me 
Much sweeter than a dream. 

The pattern on my loom would show 
No raw and ghastly seam. 

[ 36 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


But then methinks it is because 
Of what the looms disclose. 
The breath of life is sweeter 
Than the fragrance of a rose. 


[ 37 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A Day in Spring 

G O SLOW, 0! day immaculate; 

Much slower than the rest. 
Master of time, mark every hour 
As tho’ thou were not pressed,— 

Or hurried. But more leisurely 
And gently let them chime. 

Oh! morn, take off thy wings of speed 
And let this day be mine. 

0! day, immaculate and kind, 

Make no rude haste or speed. 

But loiter in less trodden paths 
Walk lightly o’er the mead. 

Spring and I are holding hands 
On a green hill’s dazzling crest. 

Make this day, God, go very slow 
More slowly than the rest. 


[ 38 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Autumn 

I SEE you now, your autumn gown 
In wanton fashion hung, 

Your crimson scarf half rakishly, 

To trifling breezes flung. 

I was distressed and sad to think 
You did not even care. 

But once your harp sang low and sweet 
You breathed a solemn prayer. 

You sang soft broken numbers 
Sad as your soul’s distress, 

And I loved you no matter how wanton 
Or scarlet or scanty your dress. 


[ 39 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Little Girl 

F ROM out the calendar of time 
Grant me one glorious day. 
And let me follow singing streams, 

So cool with tossing spray. 

And riot in their pebbled beds 
Where willows bend and swirl 
Their giddy heads, as once they did 
When I was, “little girl.” 

And let me feel again the clutch 
One gets down in the throat 
From long admiring, silent things 
Faint sounds and clouds afloat. 

Let afternoon slip languidly, 

Tree branches bend and twirl 
Adoringly: as once they did 
When I was “little girl.” 

Give me one riotous unbound day 
To climb a dizzy hill. 

Waist deep in laurel, where wood birds 
Gyrate and mock and trill. 

[ 40 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Where even timid walkers’ steps 
Unloose great rocks that hurl, 
Delightedly, to depths I feared 
When I was “little girl.” 

Grant me one free unbounded day 
Wherein I may explore, 

The land where dream folks 9 houses shed 
Moon dazzle from the door. 

Oh! riotuos day detain my steps 
Clasp me from this mist whirl 
And let me live the dreams I dreamed 
When I was ‘ ‘ little girl . 9 ’ 


[4i] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


My Old House and the Weather 

I GROW so very weary 

Of the city’s crowded street 
The babbling of voices 
The restlessness of feet. 

I often wish my friends would talk 
Less dexterous and less clever, 

And let me say a word about 
My old house and the weather. 

I long to stop those restless feet 
And if I only could, 

I’d still their babbling tongues awhile 
With back-home quietude. 

I long to let them know about 
Birches that stand together, 

And the hand that threw the blooms around 
My old house and the weather. 

But as it is I only take 
Mere twigs of it to town, 

The lilacs when they’re on the bush 
And roses tumbling round. 

[ 42 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


But folks forget so hurriedly 
And talk of fuss and feather, 

I think they’d best come out and see 
My old house and the weather. 




[ 43 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Bluestone River, W. Va. 

S OMETIME in my day dreaming 
Thru’ my half-lidded eyes, 

I’m seeing old Virginia 
And Old Virgina skies. 

The narrow, crooked roadway, 

The path by which we came, 

And then I see the river, 

Bluestone river, in the rain. 

Then there’s the drooping willows 
Swaying, swirling, side by side. 

And the hollyhocks keep nodding 
To each other in the tide. 

And the mists we love o’ mornings 
Puts our dropping tears to shame. 
When we see it clear the river, 
Bluestone river, in the rain. 

And there’s the little homestead 
Just across the running stream, 

It beckons from the mountain 
Like a kind hand in a dream. 


[ 44 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A soft, mellow light is breaking 
From each golden window pane, 
And it shines down on the river, 
Blnestone river, in the rain. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Sea Hunger 

I ’VE languished under many moons 
And loved them all. Ah me! 
But now my heart is filled too full 
Of hunger for the sea. 

When thinking of the white gulls 
That ride the creamy foam, 

I almost hear the brave winds 
O’er singing seas at home. 

And when I think of white mists 
That rise from shore to shore, 

In utter weariness I weep 
But cannot see them more. 

And some day when I leave my dreams 
These tides in which I’ve striven, 

I ’ll lock their memories in my breast 
And carry them to heaven. 


[ 46 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Tree Sounds 

T HE FOREST closed and folded 
About me like a tent. 

The tree tops swayed and toppled 
Rain riven and wind-rent. 


The old harp in the pine trees 
Struck cords minor and deep. 
So in the storm tossed forest 
I was rocked to sleep. 

That was long ago, O’ ages, 

Yet thru these rushing years, 
The sounds of a wind rent forest 
Is ever in my ears. 


[ 47 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


A Wish 


HEY called me girl, gave me the name 



Of one Ill never see. 


I wish they’d given me instead 
The name of some nice tree. 

A tree that rocks with every wind, 
Fast rooted in the ground, 
Straining its eager branches up 
To where God ’s looking down. 

A neighbor to the grass and flowers. 

A friend to all the skies, 

A lovely tree that dares to romp 
With every bird that flies. 

A spruce, an elm, a tamarack; 

Dear heaven, how can there be 
A lovelier name, and how I wish 
They’d given one to me. 


[48] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Middle Creek, W. Va. 

I HAVE a longing for a hill 
A passion for small streams. 

And there’s a creek that winds itself 
Among my muted dreams. 

A tumbling stream, you know the kind, 
With water running clear, 

Where birds might bathe between its songs 
And pilgrims hover near. 

It twines itself, love-fashion, round 
A flowering tree, then worms— 

And oozes in between the roots, 

Of sycamores and ferns. 

Petals float down and mingle with 
Ribbons of grass while I 
Am conscious that I am dreaming, 

And writing while I sigh. 


[ 49 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Endie 

I LIKE to visit Endie’s house 
She’s like a dream herself, 

She has the hooks I know and love 
Upon her reading shelf. 

And when I go to her we talk 
About the clouds and wind, 

And if I drop from clouds to clods 
Why; Endie doesn’t mind. 

I like the streams, the singing ones, 
But Endie likes a fall; 

And if I disagee with her 
She doesn’t mind at all. 

Endie has a thousand things 
To plant in one small space; 

When I find it can’t he done 
Regret is in her face. 

She often says 0! dare we plant, 
Narcissus in a row? 

But she agrees and I agree 
Where hollyhocks should grow. 

I only need to mention tea 
And Endie’s soft eyes shine. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


And then she talks; her language flows 
More eloquent than mine. 

Once ambition burned my breast 
Endie, too, was fired. 

But here is where I stop to rest 
For Endie’s getting tired. 


[Si] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


In Our Old Street 

E CHILDREN played in a queer old 
street 



That persistently seemed to hide, 

Itself and us in a kindly way 

From the great wide world outside. 

And how we loved in our childishness 
God’s work on the sea and land. 

But death was secretive, dark and deep, 

And never showed us his hand. 

With awe we gazed on his work, sad work 
And the flutter of ribbons white, 

Made us all catch hands, hold our breath and sob 
In our restless dreams at night. 

When a baby came to our queer old street 
So downy and vague and new, 

We tiptoed out of the soft, dark room, 

And the mystery grew and grew. 

But many things we have learned since then 
For life has a strange sad way, 


EAIN AND ROSES 


We left the hills and the queer old street 
Where we used to shout and play. 

One of the things we have learned is this: 

Tho’ death rides around rough shod, 

Back of our births and our deaths and our loves 
Is the all-kind heart of GOD. 


[S3] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Honey 


H IS eyes were wide and large and bright 
As shining drops of dew, 

In which two violets had drowned 
Themselves and made them blue. 


His lips were 0! so soft to kiss 
His smile was quaint and funny; 

Couldn’t think of any name 
To call him only Honey. 

No one ever tho’t that I 
Was his sister Sue. 

For my eyes were just as black 
As his eyes were blue. 

And my hair was like a crow 
His so golden sunny. 

Father ridicules the name 
But keeps on saying Honey. 


[ 54 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Moon Dazzle 

L AST night, as tho’ with new washed eyes 
I looked upon a lake. 

Something within me sharply stirred 
An understanding ache. 

An ardent willow swayed and dipped 
The cool depths of lagoon. 

Unstirred miles of grass and dew 
Lay lonely to the moon. 

It seemed I'd never seen a night 
Or such a scene before. 

The moonbeams stretched a splintered path 
From shore to shadowed shore. 

I marveled thus, and wondered how 
In unveiled hours to come, 

Could such a pulseless thing like death 
Make one so eager, dumb. 


[ 55 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


To Friends 

L AST night, when I was wearied to my soul, 
I was slipping out to dreamland very 
fast.. 

When I tho’t about you, and the things you did, 
The help you gave, for which I did not ask. 

Your unselfishness and kind deeds true, 

Kept coming up before me like a scroll. 

I could not count the many things you did, 

For me, when I was sick, in body and in soul. 

My undeserving self grew very, very tired. 

With all the counting of them, and I slept. 
But, ’twas just to dream again of all these things, 
And in my restless sleep, I wept, and wept, 
and wept. 


RAIN AND ROSES 


To a Meadow Lark 

A ND when I saw him stamping over 

My little patch of shrubs and clover, 
His steel bright gun held shoulder high 
I scarce could check, a smothered cry. 

Because I knew your nest was low 
So shuddered when I saw him go. 

A gunshot and I scarce could see 
You had flown screaming to a tree. 

0 little bird with troubled breast, 

A miracle has saved your nest. 

I’m sorry you were frightened so, 

Your should not build your nest so low. 


[ 57 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Broken Numbers 

A MYSTERY puzzled and vexed me, 
Unsolvable, strange and deep. 
Perplexed and worn out in spirit 
It followed me into my sleep. 

Then with eyes that were heavy with dreaming 
I drifted from darkness to dawn. 

For the raindrops scattered my shadows 
With numbers *of broken song. 

I thought of the heavy mystery 
That troubled me yesterday, 

It seemed I never could solve it 
Or drive it completely away. 

And I thought of the thousands of moments 
When each, to oneself stands alone, 

Thrown back on oneself for the answer 
The answer that never comes home. 

As I pondered each sad broken number 
The raindrops made on the pane, 

The shine came to me, came in bundles, 

For I heard the song in the rain. 

[ 58 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Shine is a guest we have often 
Grief being seldom is great. 

I have no quarrel with mystery 
I have no quarrel with fate. 


[ 59 ] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


I'm Going Out 

I f M GOING out where breezes blowing round 
Make trim kept acres look half country 
and half town. 

Where March winds tossed and blew the leaves 
away 

Into the fences comer yesterday. 

Oaks that never dropt last summer’s leaves at all 
Were coaxed at last today to leave them fall. 
I’m going out to this street’s very end, 

Where city atmosphere and country spaces 
blend, 

And hear the whirring wings of lonely larks, 
That circle like burnt embers o ’er the park. 

I’ll have my hair in torrents blowing wild 
About my pallid features like some child, 

That had its romping days of childish fun 
Most strangled e’er they ever had begun. 

I’d like to walk around a field that’s barr’d 
Prom other pleasant places winter scarr’d. 
Where drifts have filled the corners there I know 
Is still a faint suggestion of late snow. 

[60] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


So when your luncheon hour and mine comes 
round, 

I will have gone beyond the edge of town. 


[61] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Ingleside 

T HE road that goes to Ingleside 
Can’t be described at all, 

’Tis sweet beyond the telling 
And the trees are paces tall. 

Spring o’ year at Ingleside 
Is pungent sweet of breath. 

And for its rainfilled, tumbling streams 
I’m homesick unto death. 

Confusing flowers fill the wood 
Like nodding plumes of flame. 

The like of which one’s never seen 
And no one knows the name. 

The hills that look on Ingleside 
Are emerald to the brow. 

And I would give a thousand dreams 
If I could see them now. 


[62] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Friendship 

O NCE on a time there was a road 
Went winding by my door. 
And fain I was to travel it 
In search of golden store. 

And 0! how oft with heavy heart 
The weary miles I trod, 

And many a sorry tale I learned 
Upon the open road. 

Often times I was made glad 
And oft my heart was sore. 

For folk who traveled on the road 
That winded by my door. 

Adventure came, aye many a time, 
And even now I sigh. 

And sorry am to count the times 
The false gods caught my eye. 

But now I keep a little spot 
Just off the busy road, 

And there I patient, wise-eyed wait 
Those of the heavy load. 

[63] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


And kindly then I draw them in 
While warm heart talks to heart. 

And when night darkens I have found 
We’re sorry for to part. 

This happened too once on a time 
When I was weak and sore. 

I drew a jewel from the road 
That winded by my door. 

But then I very often find 
Two roads so different meet, 

And many a friend I’ve found and kept 
For whom I did not seek. 


[64] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


This Year 

T HIS year’s breezes gently toss 

A fern nncnrling from tbe moss; 
Arbntns trailing lengths along; 

Brown thrush thrilling with his song. 
The grosbeak sings a song of cheer, 

1 ‘Ain’t” things beautiful this year? 

The dandelions are here again 
Amongst the grass like golden rain. 

A hawthorn raining petals white, 

Whilst dripping with the dews of night. 
A mocker’s notes, round, sweet and clear. 
“Ain’t” things beautiful this year? 

So thankful that old winter’s gone 
Fond hearts beat a tender song. 

The meadow lark in circles high, 

Sings songs of faith against the sky. 
While in my heart I greatly fear, 
Things are too beautiful this year. 


[65] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Spring Walkers 

I SN’T there just a hint in the air 

That spring’s hiding out in the garden some¬ 
where ? 

Remember the place where the violets grew? 
Let’s all go and see if they’ve been stirring too. 
That sounded like wings, 0! look it’s a bird. 

How did he know that the mosses had stirred. 
Before we can really think it is spring 
He’s here on his faith, and started to sing. 
Someone’s been here, the leaves have been tossed 
As if one were looking for things that were lost. 
And ruthlessly left to the late April snow 
The pale slender necks of the first buds below. 
Let’s cover them up, it doesn’t seem fair 
To leave them like this, see that birch over there ? 
We’ll remember the place and come back again, 
When the sun is some warmer, and there’s been 
a rain. 

Let’s walk thru the wood, and come back this 
way 

I dislike to go home, I wish it were May. 

[66] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Here’s a place I adore, this tender dark wood. 
It’s a source of delight, and if one only could 
Just come here and visit awhile every day, 

’Twould charm every heartache one has quite 
away. 

This path has surprises at every bend. 

This log has been here since I can’t tell you 
when. 

We just walk around or climb over this way, 
’Twould spoil the whole scene if they took it 
away. 

This tree has been tired standing up long ago 
’Twas March, the old roughneck, gave it the last 
blow. 

It looks like a man-contrived arch o’er a drive, 
The vines will cling round it and keep it alive. 
I’m tired. Let’s go hack, we’ve come a long way 
I dislike to go home, I wish it were May. 


m 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Winter Woods 

W OULD you like to walk to Elm Court 
Now that winter’s here? 

Yes it is a little chilly, 

But you’ll like it, never fear. 

I’d like to see that little path, 

The one you sketched, you know, 

After last night’s storm it surely 
Must he rimmed around with snow. 

The grey grouse slept I’m certain 
Beneath the patches white, 

The hills protrude a dazzling crest 
Into the dawn’s cold light. 

If attempts were made to climb 
Up to its softened blue, 

Every time we stepped up one 
We’d slip back more than two. 

But now, we ’ll just go thru this woods 
And this deep snow, my dear, 

Will make a worth while picture 
For it’s beautiful this year. 

Let us plow thru this deep snow drift 
To that small half frozen stream, 

[68] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


We’ll see nicer ferns I’ll wager 
Than a summer’s ever seen. 

Ferns in winter? yes there’s plenty. 

Will you only just look here 
How frost fashions from plain water 
Things so beautiful and queer. 

Wait awhile! here’s beauty, 

This stream bank’s frozen dirt 
Boasts an edge as sweet and dainty 
As a lady’s underskirt. 

In summer this is lovely 

But old winter has its charms 
When these tender little trees stand round 
With ice clothes on their arms. 

It’s very quiet, but lonely never, 

You can push these twigs apart 
And in the softened stillness 

Almost feel and hear God’s heart. 

And one may feel this darkness 
Like soft velvet one unrolls, 

Its very quiet is soothing, 

To a city weary soul. 

See these bushes! all the edges 
Have a perfect picot hem, 

Like women’s restless fingers 
Had picked up now and then. 

[69] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


We must find the pathway back 
When the sun comes stealing thru, 
Like old magic, all these wonders 
Will be dripping from our view. 

I prefer to keep this picture 
Just as we have seen it here, 

This lovely morning, to my fancy 
Is too beautiful, I fear. 


[70] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Brother O’ Mine 

D O YOU remember the cardinal’s call, 
Brother O’ mine? 

The hills that we climbed, be they ever so tall, 
With never a fear for a hurt or a fall, 
Wondering ever if skies did fall, 

Brother O’ mine. 

Many a hill we’ve climbed since then, 

Brother O’ mine. 

Been pelted with roses and rinsed with the rain 
Of our sorrowing teardrops time and again; 
Despair in our hearts and a clutch of pain, 
Brother O’ mine. 

And there were pebbles that hurt our feet 
Brother O’ mine. 

But the dust of the highway seemed velvet sweet 
Tho’ many a cross and trials we’d meet, 

With daisies and graves at our very feet, 
Brother O’ mine. 

[7i] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Father we had in the bygone days, 
Brother O’ mine. 

And mother to wipe all our tears away. 
Tho’ sodden the sky, and shadows be grey 
God will speak clear of the mist some day, 
Brother O’ mine. 


[72] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Dream 

T HE flowers upon my lady’s hat, 

Kept bobbing so this way then that, 
Until the Church seemed faint and blurred 
The morning Psalms I scarcely heard. 
Unless I see I cannot hear, 

So, I just admired that flower so near. 
’Twas unlike any bloom that blows 
On trees or waves in garden rows, 

Where clings the morning glory vine 
Or beds of phox or columbine, 

Like nothing in the drowsy south 
With love songs oozing from its mouth, 

In all the languorous, summer noons 
Or riotous breaths of all perfumes, 

Like nothing in my garden bed 
Of flowers washed blue or drenched red; 
Peculiarly designed it sat 
And nodded on my lady’s hat. 

I summoned all my powers to wit 
But could not find a name for it. 

I sought my couch with troubled breast, 

I could not from my memory wrest 

[73] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


The name of that tormenting bloom, 

Till wearied tossing, then I swooned 
Into forgetfulness and dreamed 
Of lands beyond where sunlight streamed, 
In gardens where an angel talked 
In soft glad whispers as he walked. 

And touched each blossoming bud and bell 
With pride and love ineffable. 

But one he loved beyond compare; 

He stooped and kissed the petals rare. 
With eagerness I did persist 
To see the flower the angel kissed. 

And there it grew a thing intact, 

The flower upon my lady’s hat. 

It stood a straight slim tossing flame 
And I had yet to learn its name. 

With this in mind I tried to talk, 

But the angel only sped his walk. 

I could have cried for very shame, 

Then someone called me by my name. 

The room was pink with morning light, 
Because dreams vanish with the night; 
And things are not what they seem, 

I called the little flower “dream.” 


[74] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Shine and Shower 

I T’S THE cross that makes the triumph 
A glorious thing to share, 

It’s the sweet behind the bitter 
Makes the burden light to bear. 

It’s the shine past all the raining 
Of the heart-break and the tear, 

It’s the faith in dim tomorrow’s 
Clears the mist from yesteryears. 

So I’ll take my shine and shower 
The bitter with the sweet, 

And I’ll make a friend of sorrow 
Every time we chance to meet. 

Give me triumph with disaster 
And my share of gain and loss 
And I ’ll not be asking angels 
For a sweeter, gentler cross. 


[75] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Lines to Death 

T HE harp like strings of destiny 

Stretched taut awhile, then broke, 
So life gives o’er the battle 
To death’s relentless stroke. 

What’s wealth with all its glitter 
When the sands of life are spent ? 

It cannot nnf-old the curtain 
Of that solitary tent. 

Fame is just a tempting bauble 
That comes when least we call, 

And fate stands thus dividing 
Rain and roses ’mongst us all. 

Life is just a few short summers, 

Breath of roses and a prayer. 

Then a little tent to sleep in 
When we grow too tired to care. 

The high, the low, the haughty, 

The humble, too, meet here. 

And share like common brothers 
The sorrow and the tear. 

[76] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


But life must have its raining 
For the master wills it so; 

And broken harps are mended, 
After death has struck the blow 7 . 


[77] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


To the New Year 

T HIS morning when I saw you 

Looking into my bedroom window, 

I thought that I disliked you very much, 

For all I could see 

You very much resembled other days 
Spotless and so wholesome, 

With all your tinsel bright, 

But, your beauty touched me not at all. 

But I decided to put up with you 

As one would with strange, unwelcome guests. 

I turned you around and about many, many 
times, 

As a child would a new toy. 

You were a lovely sight, 

And yet I felt a bit depressed, 

Till of a sudden I thought 
I saw you smile. 

Or was it only fancy? 

Then I gave you my profoundest thought 
For a short while. 

And way down in your remotest depths 
Great possibilities looked out at me, 

[78] 



RAIN AND ROSES 


And I thought of all the things you might do 
For this restless world. 

So I fell in love with you, 

Before you were a half hour old. 


[79] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Homesickness 

T HE folks whom we visit, but once in a while 
Those friends who are far, far away, 

May be thoughtful and generous indeed to a 
fault 

And kindness itself every day. 

Not even the hills with the mist on the top 
And the sun shooting flames ’cross the loam, 
Can make me forget, nor still the wild fret 
In my heart for the place I call home. 

The valleys like Eden are misty and deep: 

They are washed with the dews of the morn. 
They but serve to depress me and make me a 
prey 

To longings both sad and forlorn. 

The lilt of the trees and the song of the birds 
Once so cheery have sobered their tone, 

For my heartstrings are tied, to a little fireside 
In a place that I love to call home. 


[80] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


To Love 

T HO ’ I am slow of speech, it matters not, 

For this I know yon feel and understand. 
Tho ’ break I at yonr nearness, yet I draw apart, 
With wonder at the touches of your hand. 

Your eager eyes, so near my drooping lids 
Appraise my flushes, and you understand 
How fain I am to go, yet do draw near, 

And tremble at the touches of your hands. 

Tho ’ death should come and seal my eyelids shut, 
And tho’ I tremble at his cold commands, 

I could be drawn away e’en from the tomb, me- 
thinks 

If then, dear, you would touch me with your 
hands. 


[81] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Your Friend 

T HO’ you’re a heathen to the core 
And cause him untold pain, 

He knows everything about you 
But loves you just the same. 

You need not always seek him 
For he’s often seeking you. 

He has a welcome for the stranger 
But a warmer heart for you. 

He is rather scarce on talking 
But at listening he is good. 

You love to be around him 
But respect his solicitude. 

He is tactful of your failings, 

Well acquainted with your whim; 

And there’s nothing in this wide, wide world 
You would not do for him. 


[82] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


Draw Closer to the Fire 

T HE summer sweets have faded, 

The hedge, the vine, and briar, 
Come, put your hand in mine, my friend, 
Draw closer to the fire. 

From footstools let us view the heights 
To which great minds aspire; 

Here’s Riley, Keats and Emerson, 

Draw closer to the fire. 

A brave refrain from unknown bards 
And Byron’s brave satire, 

Frank Stanton’s tears and tenderness, 
Draw closer to the fire. 

Tho’ cold the winds and fierce the blast, 
And thwarted our heart’s desire, 

We’ve Robert Frost to cheer the hearth, 
Draw closer to the fire. 

Give me your hand, my steadfast friend; 

The words that friends require 
Stay with me thru the dying year, 

Draw closer to the fire. 

[83] 


RAIN AND ROSES 


What Love Is 

L OVE is a magnetism 

That enables two people 
To see one another as 
No one else can see them, 

A compelling unresisting element 
Drawing them into each other’s arms. 

Love is an unselfish devotion, 

Giving service without reward, 

Sacrifice without compensation, 

Suffering without alleviation. 

It is a power, a force, 

The fundamental principle of life, 

Without which, the mere act of living 
Becomes a farce and a mockery. 

Love is the foundation of every 
Unselfish act, in this grey old world. 

It is the rosy amber hearthstone 
Of earth’s flaming paradise, and 
A stepping - ^tone> to a better world called 
heaven. 


[ 84 ] 








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